When you read about Russ Meyer, people usually write about Erica Gavin, Edie Williams, Tura Satana, but I never hear anyone mention how wonderful Alaina Capri is as Angel in Good Morning and Goodbye. Before Vixen, Alaina Capri was the super-bitch with an unquenchable thirst for sins of the flesh. Smoldering bitch glare, perfect dark brown mountain of hair that is always set perfectly, arched eyebrows, she really is the perfect RM archetype. This is a sexploitation film but it is very unique in it's frank depiction of human sexuality. Most films of this era have men that are in control love machines, this one deals with the crippling affects male impotence can have on connubial bliss. The women in 'Good Morning..' demand their sexual needs. Unconventional for its time. I love the scene when Angel gets so horny that she drives to the construction sight and lays on the horn alerting her stud of her presence. This film is also a great showcase for Haji. I love that she is dressed like Eve, Mother of the Earth, her silver fig leafs covering her bronze body, she teaches Burt( the impotent husband) how to make love again with her sexual witchcraft. Haji's role is mysterious, sometimes it is depicting her as a invisible nymph watching and manipulating the other players like Puck in A Midsummer's Nights Dream... other times she is seen interacting with the characters... Is she good? Is she evil? Indeed does she exist at all? This movie is campy and silly but one gets the feeling that the director is in on the joke. The opening narration is some of the funniest dialogue of all time ("They're like a beef stew..."). Although Roger Ebert basically dismissed this film and 'Common Law Cabin' in his retrospective of RM's work as being his lesser films, I think 'Beyond the Valley of the Dolls' pays many homages in its screenplay to 'Good Morning...' The photography is beautiful, Russ Meyer was a master of blending art and sexploitation.
Review of Good Morning... and Goodbye!
